The present invention relates to a device for the dimensionally variable display of a function chart on the display of a laboratory apparatus.
Such devices are generally known from prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,382 B2 describes a zoom procedure for a calculator, in which an operator, within a depiction of a function plot on a display, can use a box to be displayed to select a section to be magnified, which is then magnified to a full image on the display.
Within the framework of an application for a digital oscilloscope, U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,986 B1 describes a system and method for graphically manipulating displayed elements, wherein this technology, as in the case of the prior art described above, requires numerous operations or inputs to obtain the desired graphic appearance of the respectively viewed function.
However, precisely in the fields of biological, chemical, or medical analysis technology, where laboratory apparatuses generate a plurality of measured value pairs, which are subsequently to be shown on a display as a function chart, it is absolutely crucial that a device for dimensionally variable display be easy and quick to operate, in particular with respect to the preset magnification or reduction of image sections of the function chart. Not only is it time-consuming, and hence inefficient, for an operator (typically technically trained, working in data analysis) to frequently switch back and forth between various magnification scales of a function chart, wherein this holds true in particular with respect to function curve progressions from a plurality of data pairs (with corresponding increased efficiency potential for the use of the cost-intensive laboratory system). The potential problem that also arises in the laboratory environment is that the extended time required by the operator during analysis to selectively view and magnify a function chart on the display might result in an undesirable impairment or deterioration in a currently assessed sample, as a consequence of which time-critical analytical procedures cannot always be reliably executed.
In addition, biological, chemical, or medical laboratory environments require that a laboratory apparatus and display device be protected to the extent possible against undesired ambient influences like temperature or moisture, while at the same time be as easy for an operator to use (thereby avoiding error).
For this reason, the known approaches to the dimensionally variable representation of a function chart on the display of a laboratory apparatus (laboratory system) is not perfectly suitable for the described intended applications, and even otherwise known zoom technologies for a display device, e.g., realized in touch-sensitive or traditional, pointer-controlled devices (mouse, track pad or trackball) are less adequate for the reasons described. Common usage of gloves in a laboratory environment further complicates usage of such touch-operated technologies (with, e.g., current mobile phone technology not permitting a zoom process enlarging a display range).